PHRIDAY PHOTOS (On Saturday)

JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWE'EN!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful . . .

(First there was snow; then came the freezing rain)

The roads and walkways were quite treacherous.

But, inside, the fire is so delightful!

(It's nice to have a gas stove in the basement)

But by time the "Trick or Treaters" were out, the temperature had moderated some, and some of the icy spots were quite a bit better. When I took Sadie pup out for a walk later, things weren't too bad.

But the gas stove was still nice to have, in the meantime.

I THINK THAT I SHALL NEVER SEE . . .

A billboard lovely as a tree.
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.

~ Ogden Nash, "Song of the Open Road," 1933

Now that I'm starting to feel better, Sadie puppy is taking me for walks more often. Today we walked through the civic park just a block from our house, and had a chance to observe some of the beautiful trees there.

(The Larches are turning. These are the only coniferous trees to shed
their leaves, or needles, all at the same time.
The Aspen at the borders of the picture have already shed their leaves)

(The Blue Spruce stand tall and ready for winter. In the
background you can see the stately elms, which are tuning.)

(The Junipers are ready for winter too, and will continue to be
green while the shrubs in the background are leafless.)

It is really such a joy to live where we do. One block to the east, we're at the river. One block to the west, we're at the park (where there are also play structures for children, and a baseball diamond further west).

STRANGE THINGS HAPPENNG

OK -- let's get this straight right from square one. The header of this blog specifically indicates that we're "Exploring the anomalies and curiosities of Life. And things that are just plain Weird. Or Funny." Everybody clear on that? Good; we'll move on.

I received this award, from Joanne at "Reasons to be Cheerful, 1, 2, 3." Which was very kind of her. (Thank you, Joanne.)



The note with this says; "This award is an acknowledgement of womanhood and sisterhood." Kind of a "solidarity" and "compassion" kind of think, I guess.

Uhhhh . . . Now this is exceedingly peculiar, because the Bear is not a she, but a he.

How to get around the problem? Joanne has declared the Bear an "honourary sister."

Hmmmm . . . Did somebody say, "anomalies," "curiosities," or "weird"? Granted, Bear may be a creative thinker, but not even I could make this one up! "Honourary Sister!?" Ahhhh, . . . well, . . . "interesting."

This started (I think) with Rosaia at "sixtyfivewhatnow" -- though she would be an obvious candidate for the award, so I should send one back anyhow. So pay attention: Natalie; Renee; Camilla: Frances; Sonia; Wendy; Dana; Julie; Janine -- and a whole bunch of others with whom I correspond semi-regularly and have forgotten to mention -- this is for you! (Bear's mind is getting mushy at this hour; I'm forgetting details.) So help yourself. There's a copy on my sidebar -- it's for YOU, all of you -- loving, caring, thoughtful sisters [l.e., human beings]. There's even one for the Blog Fodder, who we'll also classify as an "honourary sister." (No offense, big guy.)

Now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming.

PHRIDAY PHOTO

To V or not to V? That is the question.

Canada Geese on a sandbar at the south edge of the city

The day before I took these pictures, there were about ten times as many geese on the sand bars. (Of course, I didn't have my camera with me!)

We have hundreds of geese that nest on the sand bars every year; hundreds more stop here on their migration south.

I'm still waiting to get a good picture of flock in flight, in their typical "V" formation. It's quite magnificent. These were "talking" about it; a couple did a bit of a "test flight," but the group wasn't quite ready to move on. Perhaps they were waiting for others to join them.

The snow which had fallen a few days earlier was mostly gone, but the temperatures were still around the freezing mark.
picture

DOING IT BY THE BOOK

Now that I'm not longer as academically active as I used to be, the time has come for thinning out the library. (This, partly just to "simplify" my life; partly in case we have to move, for health reasons.)

Thought I would start with something fairly "light"; Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and then perhaps graduate to something more challenging. A younger friend is using Freire for her post graduate work. She's read it and would like to read some of it again; so, why not give it to her? A win-win situation. Interesting; Ivan Illich says, "This is truly revolutionary pedagogy." Sounds like a darned good recommendation.

So I'll read, have a cuppa tea, and let Sadie puppy sleep at my feet. Things will be as they should (except my eyesight is getting poor and I have problems with books using "small" print.) I'm not deterred (though a bit frustrated).

What are you folks reading these days? And what are you enjoying about it, or find annoying about it?

"HEY, SADIE . . .

. . . whats all this white stuff on the ground?"


"I dunno, Nuala; tastes kinda like water, but it's cold."

"Sure is slippery, too, Sadie!"


Such was our puppies introduction to snow. Environment Canada had been saying for several days we might get a few snow flurries on Thursday, When I was out with the puppies at noon, I think I counted four snow flakes -- almost too small to see. "Yeah," I figured, "that's the snow we were promised." But when I woke up following my afternoon nap, we had a few more flakes than I had imagined.

That didn't stop the puppies from chasing round and playing in it, and having a dandy time.


Although the whole experience caused Sadie to stop for a moment and try to figure out exactly what was happening in her world.


Meanwhile Environment Canada is promising more of the same today, with temperatures of -2°C (wind chills as low as -9°C). It's a bit cool for me, but the puppies are wearing their fur coats, so I don't know that it makes a whole lot of difference to them.

But any crops that haven't been harvested ae going to take a real beating from this.

Oh, yes; I have to get out and shovel the sidewalks, too.
√